Pain management in patients with advanced cancer

Wojciech Leppert

ISSN: 1505-8409

Przewodnik Lekarza/Guide for GPs

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2/2007
vol. 10

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abstract:

Pain management in patients with advanced cancer

Wojciech Leppert

Przew Lek 2007; 2: 182-191

Online publish date: 2007/03/16

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Pain treatment is an integral part of cancer management, especially in advanced disease when 80-90% (in the earlier stage about 40%) of patients experience pain. Each year in Poland about 200,000 cancer patients need pain treatment; thus pain management is a significant medical and social problem. The principles of chronic pain treatment submitted in this article were elaborated according to the World Health Organization (WHO), European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) and Polish experts’ recommendations. Pain management is based on the use of analgesics according to the WHO analgesic ladder and adjuvant drugs that increase analgesia and relieve analgesics’ side effects, non-pharmacological measures (palliative oncological treatment and anaesthetic procedures), rehabilitation, and psychological, social and spiritual support for patients and families.

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Pain management in patients with advanced cancer

Wojciech Leppert

treatment, opioid analgesics